Recap: Avalanche 4, Flames 2

November 09, 2013|Reuters

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Recap: Avalanche 4, Flames 2

Avalanche 4, Flames 2: John Mitchell scored the eventual game-winning goal 7:16 into the second period and Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned aside 30 shots as host Colorado doubled up its former Northwest Division rival.

Paul Stastny recorded his fifth tally in as many contests and sixth of the season by scoring on the power play early in the second. Ryan O'Reilly had a goal and an assist while Matt Duchene added an empty-netter for the Avalanche, who rebounded from their second loss of the campaign on Wednesday.

Mike Cammalleri continued his torrid stretch by scoring twice, raising his total to seven goals in his last 10 games. Jiri Hudler and Mikael Backlund each notched a pair of assists for the Flames, who have dropped three in a row and nine of 12.

After Cammalleri's first goal at 6:07 of the second period trimmed Colorado's lead to 2-1, Mitchell answered 69 seconds later. Top overall pick Nathan MacKinnon skated out from behind the net and fed Mitchell, who wired a shot from the inner edge of the right faceoff circle past Karri Ramo (23 saves) for his second goal of the season.

Cammalleri once again brought the Flames within one 2 1/2 minutes later by converting a brilliant backdoor feed from Hudler. Calgary was unable to net the equalizer against Giguere, who improved to 5-0-0 on the season.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Flames acquired D Ladislav Smid and G Olivier Roy from Alberta rival Edmonton for G Laurent Brossoit and F Roman Horak. ... Calgary, which failed on both of its power-play chances, is 0-for-30 in its last nine games. ... Flames RW David Jones returned to Denver after spending his first six seasons with the Avalanche. Jones and D Shane O'Brien were traded to Calgary in June for LW Alex Tanguay and D Cory Sarich.